Synthesis of triphenylphosphonium quinols and quinones

ABSTRACT

The methods of preparing quinols and quinones typified by mitoquinol and mitoquinone where a compound typified by idebenone is reacted with Ph 3 PHX and Ph 3 P, where X is a halogen atom.

This is a nationalization of PCT/NZ02/00154 filed Aug. 12, 2002 and published in English.

The present invention relates to the synthesis of triphenyl phosphonium quinols and quinones such as mitoquinol and mitoquinone.

In the Journal of Biological Chemistry, Vol. 276, No. 7, 16 Feb. 2001, pp 4588–4596, Kelso et al. “Selective Targeting of a Redox-active Ubiquinone to Mitochondria within Cells” there is disclosed a utility for mitoquinol as a targeted antioxidant for use in the mitochondria of cells, a method of synthesis of mitoquinol and the oxidative changes of mitoquinol to mitoquinone. See also U.S. Pat. No. 6,331,532.

The full content of that publication is hereby here included by way of reference.

Mitoquinol has the following structure

Its oxidised form is mitoquinone which has the structure

The present invention relates (in a preferred form) to an alternative synthesis of mitoquinol, mitoquinone, or mixtures of mitoquinol and mitoquinone. It also relates more generally to the synthesis of similar carbon chain linked triphenyl phosphonium and quinol and/or quinone compounds.

In one aspect the present invention consists in a method of synthesis of a compound with a moiety or the moiety of the formula

(and/or its quinone form) where n is an integer from at least 2 (preferably at least 6) to 40 which comprises or includes the reaction of a compound of the formula

(and/or its quinol form) in the presence of Ph₃PHX and Ph₃P, where X is a halogen atom.

Preferably X is preferably bromine, iodine or chlorine (most preferably bromine).

Whilst n can be from 2 upwards drop for the reaction where n is less than 6 sufficiently to render alternative synthesises more economic.

Preferably n is 6 to 25.

Preferably the reaction is maintained as a temperature below which significant amounts of MePPh₃ are not formed by ether cleavage, eg; the mixture is preferably kept below 80° C.

In still another aspect the present invention consists in a method of synthesis of a compound with a moiety or the moiety of the formula

(and/or its quinone form) where n is an integer from 6 to 40 which comprises or includes the preparation or obtaining of a compound of formula

(and/or its quinol form) and

its subsequent reaction in the presence of Ph₃PHBr and Ph₃P.

Preferably n is from 6 to 25.

Preferably the reaction is maintained as a temperature below which significant amounts of MePPh₃ are not formed by ether cleavage, eg; the mixture is preferably kept below 80° C.

By a procedure as follows the starting compounds of Formula 1 where n is from 6 to 40 can be prepared as follows:

Yields are 30–40% for n=5, 10, 15, 23 and are based on the readily available starting material (Q₀) and the hydroxyacids—which are well described in the literature.

The method is an adaptation of the procedure in JP 08239340 and gives a ready source of the starting materials.

Other approaches to compounds of Formula 1 are by Friedel-Crafts acylation reaction of trimethoxytoluene followed by two reduction steps and quinone formation as described in JP 07223991, EP 0289223. Chemical and Pharmaceutical Bulletin 33(10), 4422–31 1985, JP 59039855, Chemical and Pharmaceutical Bulletin 30(8), 2797–819 1982.

Idebenone is a compound of Formula 1 but when n=10.

We have determined that idebenone when reacted with Ph₃PHBr will provide the quinol bromide and Ph₃PO. Yet when Ph₃P is also present in addition the Ph₃PHBr a pathway exists directly through to mitoquinol.

The present invention therefore in one aspect is a method of synthesis of mitoquinol, mitoquinone or mixtures of mitoquinol and mitoquinone which comprises or includes the reaction of idebenone in the presence of Ph₃PHBr and Ph₃P.

Idebenone is disclosed in §4932 in The Merck Index, 12^(th) Edition.

Preferably the ratio of the idebenone with the Ph₃PHBr, the idebenone with the Ph₃P and the ratio of the Ph₃PHBr with the Ph₃P is substantially stoichiometric.

Preferably the reaction is maintained as a temperature below which significant amounts of MePPh₃ are not formed by ether cleavage, eg; the mixture is preferably kept below 80° C.

In the preferred form of the present invention the reaction through to substantially pure mitoquinol can be described by the following procedure:

Preferably the product that results from the reaction of the idebenone in the presence of the Ph₃PHBr and Ph₃P is mitoquinol (and possibly some of the oxidised species mitoquinone) as well as Ph₃PO.

Preferably that reaction product can be purified to substantially purer mitoquinol and/or mixtures of mitoquinol and mitoquinone. For example by washing off with a solvent for Ph₃PO (eg; Et-OAc) and washing with a solvent (eg; H₂O optionally with HBr present) for any phosphonium salts (eg; MePPh₃) or by separation by chromatography.

We have found that it is possible to isolate the material by the procedure hereinafter described by reference to both Example 2 and Example 3 and/or 4.

It will be seen that we have found that it is possible with simple EtOAc washing until all of the Ph₃PO has been removed and thereafter a simple water wash (with a presence of HBr) to remove the MePPh₃ (albeit with some loss of the target material) provides purity levels desired, ie; a minimum of 98% mitoquinol (if any mitoquinone present, it is also considered as mitoquinol).

Alternatively a vacuum chromatography/filtration is possible.

If subsequently needed any mitoquinone present or at least some of the mitoquinone present can be reduced through to the mitoquinol form (eg; using a borohydride).

The present invention also consists in mitoquinol and/or mitoquinone synthesised by any part of a procedure as hereindescribed (including as a precursor or as part of such synthesis of Ph₃PHBr preparation typified by Example 1).

We have determined we can carry out the following reaction for n being 6 and above (eg; to 40):

Yields were low however (eg; for n=3, n=5) when n was below 6.

The present invention will now be further described by reference to the following Examples:

EXAMPLE 1 Ph₃PHBr Preparation

Ph₃P (39.3 g, 0.15 mol) was added to 48% aq. HBr (105 mL). The solution was stirred at 70° C. for 5 minutes, cooled and extracted with CHCl₃ (3 45 ml).

The combined organic phase was dried over Na2SO₄, filtered and the solvent was removed in vacuo.

The residue was washed with warm EtOAc (90 ml); yield: 36.6 g (71%). (Hercouet, A., Le Corre, M. Synthesis, 157 (1988))

EXAMPLE 2 Mitoquinol Preparation

Idebenone (0.678 g, 2 mmol, Sequoia Research Products # SRP00400i), Ph₃P (0.524 g, 2 mmol) and Ph₃PHBr(0.686 g, 2 mmol) were placed in a 120×16 mm KIMAX tube fitted with a screw cap together with a small TEFLON™ coated spin bar. The tube was flushed with nitrogen, sealed and the bottom 2 cm was placed in a 70° C. oil bath on a magnetic stirrer/hotplate with stirring of the mixture. The solids melted quickly to give an easily stirred orange liquid. As the reaction proceeded the mixture became very viscous and turned dark red/brown.

Progress of the reaction was monitored by removing a small sample and recording the ³¹P NMR in CDCl₃: PPh₃/PHPh₃Br −4.7 ppm, PPh₃=O 30.2 ppm, PPh₃Me 23.0 ppm and the product had a peak at 25.6 ppm.

After 16 hours some of the starting materials were still evident but after 22 hours the reaction was complete.

The mixture was then cooled to give a black, glass-like solid which was dissolved in CH₂Cl₂(4 mL), transferred to a RB flask and the solvent evaporated in vacuo to give a dark red oil (2.446 g).

EXAMPLE 3 Purification of MitoQuinol

The residue from the mitoQuinol preparation of Example 2 (2.446 g) was mixed with EtOAc (20 ml) and held at 70° C. for 5 minutes then cooled and the solvents decanted. This process was repeated twice more, by which time ³¹P NMR showed no Ph₃PO remained in the solid residue (1.120 g).

The residue (1.120 g) was then washed with a solution of H₂O (20 ml) and 48% HBr (3 drops) at 60° C. for 10 minutes. Any remaining solvent was removed from the residue by evaporation in vacuo (0.5 mm) to give an orange foam (0.763 g, 57%). ¹H NMR (299.9 MHz) 7.6–7.9 (m, 15H, —P⁺Ph₃), 3.88 (s, 6H,2′ —OCH₃), 3.8–3.9 (m, 2H, —CH₂—P⁺Ph₃), 2.5—2.6(t, 2H, ubiquinol —CH₂—), 2.14 (s, 3H, CH₃). ³¹P NMR (121.4 MHz) 25.7 ppm.

EXAMPLE 4 Purification of MitoQuinol

The residue (216 g, 0.326 mol) from the EtOAc washing of the crude reaction material (64% -ol, 20% -one, 16% MePPh₃Br) as in the first part of Example 3 was dried in vacuo then dissolved in methanol (700 mL). A solution of 30% aqueous H₂O₂ (70 mL, 0.618 mol) and pyridine (134 mL) were added and the mixture was stirred 21 hrs at room temperature. The methanol was then evaporated in vacuo and the crude mixture was dissolved in dichloromethane (1.6 L) and extracted with 2% aqueous HBr (4×700 mL). The organic layer was dried over MgSO₄ and added directly to a silica gel bed (1.2 kg (Merck type 9385) dry packed, 65 mm deep by 245/230 mm wide in a sintered glass funnel). The silica gel was washed using a slight vacuum with dichloromethane (1.0 L), then 5% rectified spirits in dichloromethane (10.0 L) and 10% rectified spirits in dichloromethane (3.0 L).

Evaporation of the 5% rectified spirits in dichloromethane solution gave of pure mitoQuinone (166.2 g, 76.9%). ¹H NMR (299.9 MHz) 7.7–7.9 (m, 15H, —P⁺Ph₃), 3.98 (s, 6H, 2× —OCH₃), 3.85–3.95 (m, 2H, —CH₂—P⁺Ph₃), 2.40 (t, J=7.8 Hz, 2H, ubiquinone—CH₂—), 2.00 (s, 3H, CH₃). ³¹P NMR (121.4 MHz) 25.7 ppm.

Evaporation of the 10% rectified spirits in dichloromethane solution gave a 29:71 mixture of mitoQuinone and methyltriphenylphosphonium bromide (19.2 g).

MitoQuinone (0.31 g, 0.47 mmol) was dissolved in methanol (10 ml) and stirred under argon at room temperature. Sodium borohydride (0.1 g) was added to the stirred solution which went light yellow and the mixture was stirred for 30 minutes. A solution of 48% HBr was then added dropwise until gas evolution finished and the methanol was then evaporated in vacuo. The residue was dissolved in a mixture of dichloromethane (5 ml) and H₂O (5 ml) and the organic layer was collected. The aqueous phase was extracted with a further portion of dichloromethane (5 ml). The combined organic fractions were dried over Na₂SO₄ and the solvents evaporated in vacuo to give a yellow foam (0.305 g, 97%). ¹H NMR showed no evidence for a peak at 2.045 ppm indicating <3% residual mitoQuinone impurity. 

1. A method of synthesizing a compound of formula II:

wherein n is an integer from 6 to 40 and where the compound of formula II is present in its quinol form or its quinone form or a mixture thereof, which method comprises: reacting a compound of formula 1:

where n is an integer from 6 to 40 and where the compound of formula 1 is present in its quinone form or its quinol form or a mixture thereof, with Ph₃PHX and Ph₃P, where X is a halogen atom selected from Br, I, and Cl, at a temperature of below 80° C., to obtain the compound of formula II.
 2. The method of claims 1 wherein X is Br.
 3. The method of claim 1 wherein n is an interger from 6 to
 25. 4. The method of claim 1 wherein n is
 10. 5. The method of claim 1 wherein prior to the step of reacting, (i) the compound of formula 1, (ii) Ph₃P and (iii) Ph₃PHX are substantially stoichiometric.
 6. The method of claim 1 wherein the compound of Formula 1 is present in its quinone form.
 7. The method of claim 1 wherein the compound Formula II is present in its quinol form.
 8. The method of claim 1 which further comprises a purification step comprising purifying the compound of formula II.
 9. The method of claim 1 which further comprises reducing the quinone form of the compound of formula II to its quinol form. 